Bourne #4, Green Lantern Sequel, Monsterpocalypse and Inception Spot

Bourne #4, Green Lantern Sequel, Monsterpocalypse and Inception Spot

In Development: – Bourne #4 is coming. Tony Gilroy is back in the saddle to write The Bourne Legacy as a sequel, not prequel, to the franchise starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, as well as a “Bourne Bible.” The film is not based on the book The Bourne Legacy (written by Eric Van Lustbader, not original novelist Robert Ludlum, who died in 2001) and is set for release in 2012. Damon says he won’t do it unless director Paul Greengrass returns (Greengrass directed Ultimatum and Supremacy, while Doug Liman directed the 2002 kick-off The Bourne Identity). [Anne Thompson: I’d like to see Gilroy–in many ways the series’ true creator, and a crackerjack director himself (Michael Clayton, Duplicity)– do the honors. Would Damon work with him? After he sees the script, maybe.]

– THR reports that even though Warner Bros.’s Green Lantern won’t be released until June 2011, the sequel is already in the works. The studio has hired Green Lantern writers Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim to write #2 (as well as The Flash). With a cast featuring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Mark Strong, why not keep going with a second installment? The move signals that the relationship between Warner Bros. and DC comics has indeed strengthened since September, when the comics house was reorganized under DC president Diane Nelson.

– Dreamworks has a film adaptation of the strategy game Monsterpocalypse in the works, and writer John August confirms that he is in negotiations to write the script. Should it go through, and assuming Dreamworks successfully woos Tim Burton to direct, it will be the fourth pairing of August and Burton (their fifth would be their in-the-works adaptation of ’60s TV show Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp): Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. Scheduling with Depp and Burton may get tricky (Depp just finished shooting The Tourist with Angelina Jolie, and Pirates 4 films this summer), but both projects are likely to set sail regardless of their somewhat similar content (Dark Shadows features vampires, zombies, werewolves, and Monsterpocalypse obviously features some fantastical creatures as well). There’s money to be made, THR points out: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride combined grossed $584 million worldwide.

Casting updates:

– EXCLUSIVE: A familiar supporting player in film and television, Treme actor and New Orleans native Lance E. Nichols (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Welcome to the Rileys) is set to star in Thomas L. Phillips’ indie Where I Begin. Of this small town character-study (which he co-wrote with Melanie Addington) Nichols says, “the reality is in the script and in the town itself, and the actors will take that reality and make it their own.” Where I Begin shoots this summer in Kentucky.

– Rob Minkoff’s Flypaper, from a script by The Hangover writers Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, has filled out its cast. Joining Ashley Judd and Patrick Dempsey are Pruitt Taylor Vince, Mekhi Phifer, John Ventimiglia, Matt Ryan, Greg Germann, Octavia Spencer and Jeffrey Tambor, reports Variety. The comedy is about two gangs of crooks trying to rob the same bank, only to be thrown off-course when one man (Dempsey) tries to save the bank teller he secretly loves (Judd).